Tell me about the latest books you have published. I can summarize the writing process for my last novel, “Teoría de las catástrofes,” by its accrual of subtractions: it took me more than three years of continuous writing. 700 pages of the 440 than would later remain. Non-stop. It was practically all I did. I hit the keyboard until my computer fell apart and had to borrow another to continue pounding on it. I even cancelled my Internet connection to avoid distractions (though it really got cut off after I defaulted on my payments).“Teoría de las catástrofes” is in many ways my most complete novel to date. Structurally. Language-wise. By the different areas it addresses, from the private to thecommunal and social, it required a very dynamic narrator who could move between various degrees of discourse and focus, a very attentive narrator. However, it’s not a polyphonic novel in the least, but rather personal. You can say it’s a political novel without it being one. It takes place during the 2006 Oaxaca uprising that begun with the education strike and concluded with the subsequent repression by federal forces, death caravans and PRI gunmen. The idea for the story happened by chance and was more or less based on my experience. I didn’t plan it, I was starting another novel that remained in the drawer. 2006 was the year I moved to Oaxaca, and what began as an intimate story about a couple that got involved in the conflict against their will became some kind of contemporary epic, a narrative river whose end I would never see given the amount of things I wanted to narrate and include.I didn’t plan on this, but along with “Viena Roja,” it’s my second novel with a social and anarchist slant. I have already begun the next one, which will be openly anarchist. I don’t know where it’s leading to. “Teoría de las catástrofes” is very likely the most powerful and honest novel I have written.

¿Has publicado en formato electrónico? Existen versiones electrónicas de mis novelas “Viena roja” y “Teoría de las catástrofes” que pueden bajarse en la tienda de iBooks o iTunes. También este año acabo de publicar un texto llamado “Mexican pizza” con Patagonia eBooks disponible en iBooks.Have you published in electronic format?Electronic versions of my novels “Viena roja” and “Teoría de las catástrofes” can be downloaded from iBooks or iTunes. This year I published a text entitled “Mexican pizza” with Patagonia eBooks, also available through iBooks.¿Qué blogs, revistas electrónicas u otros sitios en internet recomendarías para descubrir a autores noveles hispanohablantes?El portal que durante mucho tiempo editó Salvador Luis Raggio, “Los Noveles” (losnoveles.net), es un referente estupendo y da un panorama muy amplio de autores y autoras más o menos de la misma generación. La versión electrónica de la antología de Diego Trelles Paz, “El futuro no es nuestro”, también es una referencia generacional obligada.What blogs, electronic magazines or other Web places would you recommend for discovering new Spanish-speaking writers? “Los Noveles,” the portal that Salvador Luis Raggio edited for a long time, is a great reference and features a wide range of authors who are more or less from the same generation. The electronic version of Diego Trelles Paz's anthology “El futuro no es nuestro” is also a required generational reference.¿Cuáles son tus referentes en la literatura iberoamericana?Borges es esencial para mí. Puedo decir que aprendí a escribir con Borges. Sin embargo, es uno de esos autores que ejerce un centro de gravedad tan grande que es mejor mantener una sana distancia.Who are your major influences in Ibero-American literature? Borges is essential to me. I can say that I learned to write with Borges. Nonetheless, he is one of those authors who exert such a strong gravitational force that it's better to maintain a healthy distance.¿Qué otros escritores han tenido influencia en tu obra?Cada vez me interesan más los autores y las autoras que lidian con temas que tienen que ver con la frontera entre la vida y la muerte. Las novelas metaliterarias o que sólo hablan de otros autores y de otros libros me producen bostezos. Busco movimiento vital en las novelas como señal de que los seres humanos tenemos un peso específico sobre nuestro entorno y sobre quienes nos rodean. No me gusta la literatura que me evade del país y del mundo donde vivo. Me gusta la literatura que me hace confrontarme de lleno con el país y el mundo en los que habito. Eso ambiciono también como escritor. Cormac McCarthy es un estupendo ejemplo de lo que busco (además de ser los poquísimos autores vivos que han hablado de mi pueblo, Zacatecas). Al menos en mi novela más reciente, “Teoría de las catástrofes”, fue lo que pretendí hacer de manera muy consciente. Algunos otros autores que tengo muy presentes son Peter Stamm, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford y J.M. Coetzee.What other writers have influenced your work? I’m increasingly more interested in authors who work on subjects dealing with the dividing line between life and death. Metaliterary novels or those that only talk about other authors and books put me to sleep. I seek vital movements in novels as a sign that we human beings have a specific weight on our environment and those who surround us. I don’t like literature that takes me out of the country and the world I live in. I like literature that makes me fully confront the country and world I inhabit. I also pursue that ambition as a writer. Cormac McCarthy is a perfect example of what I look for (aside from being one of the few live authors who have talked about my village, Zacatecas). At least that’s what I very consciously intended to do in my most recent novel, “Teoría de las catástrofes.” Other authors who are very present to me are Peter Stamm, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford and J.M. Coetzee.¿Qué nuevos autores hispanohablantes recomendarías?Me gusta lo que hace Rodrigo Rey Rosa desde hace mucho. También Álvaro Bisama, Antonio José Ponte, Valeria Luiselli, Álvaro Enrigue, Samantha Schweblin, Carlos Yushimito, Rodrigo Hasbún. En fin, la lista es muy larga.What new Spanish-speaking authors would you recommend? I’ve liked what Rodrigo Rey Rosa does for long time. Also Álvaro Bisama, Antonio José Ponte, Valeria Luiselli, Álvaro Enrique, Samantha Schweblin, Carlos Yushimito, Rodrigo Hasbún. Anyway, the list is very long.¿En qué estás trabajando ahora?Trabajo en un libro de relatos largos que tengo comenzado hace varios años y que quiero cerrar en 2013. Me gustan mucho los cuentos de Raymond Carver, pero jamás me salen y termino haciendo cuentos largos que parecen más bien nouvelles. Esencialmente tratan sobre personajes marginales. También tengo proyectada una novela de largo aliento, pero para ésa falta aún tiempo.What are you working on now? I'm working on a book of long stories that I began a few years ago and that I would like to finish in 2013. I like Raymond Carver's short stories, but I can never limit myself to that length; I end up writing longer stories that are more like novellas. They are essentially about marginal characters. I’m also planning a long novel, but that is still a ways away.¿Cómo te gustaría que fueran las bibliotecas del futuro?En México el sistema de bibliotecas es muy deficiente. Yo mismo me formé como lector de manera azarosa: leía sin método, pues era imposible encontrar una biblioteca decente y actualizada. Me gustaría pensar que las bibliotecas de mi país en un futuro pudieran ser parte de una red integral para que gente de comunidades apartadas pudiera tener el mismo acceso a cualquier título de la misma forma que los lectores de las grandes ciudades. Bibliotecas que mantengan un diálogo entre el mundo impreso y el mundo digital.How would you like future libraries to be? The library system in Mexico is very deficient. I developed myself as a reader randomly: I read without a method because it was impossible to find a decent and updated library. I would like to think that in the future libraries in my country could be part of an integral system so that people living in isolated communities could have the same access to any title as readers from major cities. I envision libraries that maintain a dialog between the printed and digital worlds.

Nuevas referencias is a bilingual blog for librarians and bibliophiles who wish to discover new Spanish-speaking authors in order to enrich and update the literary collections they maintain. Each interview is dedicated to an author who will present his/her work, influences and use of new technology and social media within specific literary circles. These portraits offer a rich fabric of literary resources for all those who wish to learn more about emerging writers who are forming new waves on both sides of the Atlantic.